One must do as people do.

If there is one thing that must be avoided more than another, it is peculiarity.

How ridiculous it would be of any one to set herself against society!" "Then you think the Judge will be satisfied if you say, 'Lord, I had so many names in my visiting-book, and so many invitations I could not refuse, that it was impossible for me to attend to those things' ?" "I don't see that I'm at all worse than other people," persisted Hesper.

"I can't go and pretend to be sorry for sins I should commit again the next time there was a necessity.

I don't see what I've got to repent of." Nothing had been said about repentance: here, I imagine, the sermon may have come in.
"Then, of course, you can't repent," said Mary.
Hesper recovered herself a little.
"I am glad you see the thing as I do," she said.
"I don't see it at all as you do, ma'am," answered Mary, gently.
"Why!" exclaimed Hesper, taken by surprise, "what have I got to repent of ?" "Do you really want me to say what I think ?" asked Mary.
"Of course, I do," returned Hesper, getting angry, and at the same time uneasy: she knew Mary's freedom of speech upon occasion, but felt that to draw back would be to yield the point.